After conviction in Abhaya case, Catholic priest pleads innocence

Thiruvananthapuram, Dec 22 (IANS) Soon after a CBI court here on Tuesday found him guilty in the infamous Sister Abhaya ‘murder’ case, prime accused Thomas M Kottur, a Catholic priest, pleaded innocence while his co-convict nun Steffi preferred to remain silent.Judge K Sanalkumar has reserved the pronouncement of quantum of punishment to the two convicts in the 28-year-old case for Wednesday.”The God is my court and I am innocent. Let the will of the God prevail,” Kottur told the media as he was led away by police to a hospital for mandatory medical check-up after his conviction.Asked if he would go in appeal against his conviction, he said: “I am not the one to decide.”Steffi, however, was seen praying when the verdict came. She clutched her cross but did not say a word.After their check-ups, both convicts were taken to different jails in the capital city.Another co-accused and Catholic priest Jose Poothrikkayil was discharged in the case by the court in 2018.Abhaya, an inmate of Pius X convent in Kottayam, was found dead in a well at the convent on March 27, 1992.Initially, both the state Crime Branch and the CBI dismissed it as a “suicide”, but public activist Joemon Puthenpurackal formed an Acton Council and doggedly pursued the case.Puthenpurackal finally managed to get the case reopened, and CBI officials cracked the case on November 19, 2008.Reacting to the court verdict, Puthenpurackal said it was a “victory of the people of Kerala and the media”. The biggest victory was of the judiciary, he remarked.”The CBI court has delivered real justice and key witness Raju, a former petty thief, stood his ground and deposed in the court despite pressure from vested interests. God has worked in this case through Raju. I have waited for this judgement for a long time. If I were to die today, I will die as the happiest person,” said Puthenpurackal.A brother of Sister Abhaya said that finally justice had been delivered to his dead sister. “We are indebted to all those who helped us. Our wait is finally over,” he added.Those arrested in the case included Poothrikkayil, a former Malayalam professor at the Kottayam college where Abhaya studied; Kottur, the Diocesan chancellor of the Catholic church at Kottayam; and Steffi, a resident of the convent when the incident took place.The CBI has since decided to go in for appeal in the Supreme Court against the discharge of Poothrikkayil without facing trial.–IANSsg/tsb